Biz Buzz

Accounting firm Deloitte & Touche is expanding on Long Island. Since May, the company has hired 26 more employees, growing its local workforce to 185 employees. Deloitte's Long Island office is in Jericho. The company is headquartered in Manhattan and known as one of the "Big Four" accounting offices in the United States. The Long...

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LONG ISLAND

Accounting firm Deloitte & Touche is expanding on Long Island. Since May, the company has hired 26 more employees, growing its local workforce to 185 employees. Deloitte's Long Island office is in Jericho. The company is headquartered in Manhattan and known as one of the "Big Four" accounting offices in the United States. The Long Island growth is planned to continue for the next year and a half, Deloitte's LI managing partner Mark Davis wrote in an email. Davis said Deloitte can grow in the middle market, saying that medium-sized companies made up a larger part of the U.S. economy than most realize. Locally, "sectors like health care, manufacturing, retail and technology continue to grow" in the region, David said.-- LISA DU

NATION

Court: Gunmaker can be sued

An appeals court in New York has ruled that a former high school athlete who was shot in 2003 can sue the companies that made and distributed the handgun used in the crime. The ruling reverses a lower court's dismissal of Buffalo victim Daniel Williams' complaint. Williams claimed Ohio gun maker Hi-Point and distributor MKS Supply intentionally supplied handguns to irresponsible dealers for profit. The gun used to shoot Williams was bought at a gun show by a Buffalo gun trafficker. Hi-Point attorney Scott Allan says Hi-Point only sells guns to federally licensed distributors and complied with all statutes.

Airline admits bad few weeks

American Airlines' chief executive acknowledged Monday that passengers have had a rough few weeks on the airline but says the carrier is working through its issues. "The operational performance is improving," CEO Tom Horton said in an interview. "We'll get past this just like other airlines before us have." The airline, which has been in bankruptcy protection since November, saw its on-time performance drop to 59 percent in September, according to Flightstats.com. In that same period Delta, Southwest and US Airways were all above 85 percent. The drop is attributed to pilots writing up extra maintenance requests as part of an unsanctioned job action. The airline has cut flights, and added reserve crews and extra planes to cover any last-minute delays.

Weather has hurt agritourism

Devastating spring freezes and a historic drought in the central United States have stripped some charm from rustic fall destinations, leaving some corn too short to create mazes, orchards virtually devoid of apples and fall colors muted. Extreme weather has forced agritourism ventures in the heart of the country to scramble to hold onto their share of an industry that generates hundreds of millions of dollars each year. For many farms and orchards, autumn is the peak agritourism season as families seek out a taste of rural life with outings to explore corn mazes, take hay rides and pick their own apples or pumpkins. Tourism generated about $566 million for more than 23,000 U.S. farms in 2007, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's most recent agriculture census -- a survey conducted every five years.

Geeks wanted for U.S. auto biz

Now being hired in Detroit: Scads of software developers and programmers. General Motors plans to hire up to 10,000 computer professionals in the next three-to-five years as it tries to lead the auto industry with cutting-edge technology. GM aims to bring 90 percent of its computer technology work into the company by recruiting workers to four new information technology centers around the nation. Ford recently joined GM, BMW AG and Renault-Nissan in opening a technology office in California's Silicon Valley, although it's staffed by only about 15 people. -- AP